Dems' frustration with Pelosi simmers

No Democrat is gearing up to challenge Nancy Pelosi in public, but behind the scenes some Democrats are saying it’s time for new blood at the leadership table ahead of 2016.

Senior aides said they hope the party’s big losses Tuesday would encourage the minority leader to expand her network of allies and advisers to include a broader set of voices for crafting election messaging and congressional agendas.

Story Continued Below

“If I had to make a bet, I think she would be the leader this coming cycle, but folks hope that Nancy Pelosi will reach out and include some folks that aren’t often included,” a senior Democratic staffer said.

The House Democratic leadership elections will be held on Nov. 18, a week after the GOP formally chooses its leadership, said Democratic sources.

Nearly a dozen senior aides and Democratic insiders said there is a desire for a broader election message from party leaders. There are complaints about Pelosi focusing so strongly on women without a broader message that could play to other groups, such as older voters and men.

“As a party, we need to change,” another senior Democratic aide said. “[Voters] like our policies. All this leftie [talk], the country likes, but somehow the message about us as individual members of the conference isn’t breaking through. There is great unrest.”

At least one new Democratic lawmaker, Gwen Graham of Florida, has already said she won’t back Pelosi as leader, although other Pelosi allies have come out in support of her.

“I am not Nancy Pelosi. Neither am I Barack Obama or Harry Reid. I am Gwen Graham,” Graham said. “And I am going to go to Washington and represent this district so incredibly well, and represent all of the counties of this district.”

The private grumbling about Pelosi is unusual. Unlike House Republican leaders, who have faced a continued threat of rebellion from conservative members, Democrats are far more loyal to Pelosi, in part because of her prolific fundraising prowess. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced earlier this week that Pelosi had raised more than $100 million for Democrats this cycle.

Pelosi, for her part, has told her fellow Democrats she plans to seek another term atop her party’s leadership table, maintaining her iron grip on a caucus she has ruled for a dozen years.

The California Democrat started Wednesday with congratulatory calls to winning members, laced with the message that she fully plans to stick around as minority leader — and that vote may come in the next two weeks.

“To succeed, we must inspire, educate and remove obstacles to participation,” Pelosi said in a letter to Democrats. “This basic and even non-partisan challenge, which many of you told me you share, have convinced me to place my name in nomination for Leader when our caucus meets.”

Leadership aides readily admit Steve Israel, who is leaving his post at the DCCC, was handed a very difficult challenge to protect seats when voters were highly pessimistic and Republicans were buoyed by a wave of outside money.